


a hundred ways to say i love you

by orphan_account



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: 100 Ways to Say I Love You Writing Challenge, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Anxiety Attacks, Autistic Spencer Reid, Behavioral Analysis Unit (Criminal Minds), Bookstores, Boys In Love, Crimes & Criminals, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Lowercase, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Past Drug Addiction, Past Rape/Non-con, Road Trips, Self-Insert, Star Trek References, i sort of characterized him as my brother, only like once though, so far - Freeform, well autistic coded
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-14 21:12:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17515958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: 100 chapters. 100 times spencer said "i love you". 100 times derek said it too.[tags will change as i update]





	1. pull over. let me drive for a while.

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Is Your Seatbelt On?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13224144) by [Queen_Preferences](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_Preferences/pseuds/Queen_Preferences). 



> every chapter will vary in length/wordcount/etc. i will put warnings for specific things in the different chapters. no additional warnings for chapter one. also a fat thank you/shout out to Queen_Preferences because the "is your seatbelt on" fic prompted this whole fic! i decided to put this all in one story and add chapters to it, rather than a series with multiple stories.
> 
> i hope u enjoy babeys!!! writing chapter eight? or maybe nine? right now :)

**"pull over. let me drive for a while." d**

 

spencer reid is not oblivious to the foggy san francisco nights, nor are they unfamiliar to him; the nevada native had spent many summers drawing a path from his desert home of las vegas to the bay area, if only to see the sun rise over the golden gate bridge. when his mother’s illness became worse, so bad that she didn’t remember those july drives, he would show her old photographs of all the times they spent at fisherman’s wharf, five am, waiting for the day to start.

 

but here, now, it is almost one-thirty, and spencer has been driving for so long his feet move on their own regard, and the fog has begun to thicken and blur his already clouded vision. the pride in his belly was too stubborn to wake derek up, though, so he blinked furiously and turned the volume up; the music playing was derek’s playlist, mostly things spencer had never listened to before. the playlist had cycled through completely, and the one playing was one spencer had heard once before. he hummed along. tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, mirroring a heartbeat’s thrum. as the verses developed, and the artist approached the chorus, spencer couldn’t help but sing along.

 

spencer supposes it was his singing which disturbed derek’s nap, though derek would come claim it was truly due to his “awful driving”. spencer frowned in his friend’s direction anyway.

 

“did i wake you?” he asked. derek shook his head, but he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. spencer laughed in response, “you’re so tired, go back to sleep, morgan.”

 

derek rolled his eyes and sat up straight. “kid, you’re the one who’s tired.  _ pull over. let me drive for a while.” _

 

spencer thought for a moment. only minutes later did he take an exit, one-one-something, a gas station in the middle of northern california. turning off the car, spencer yawned, and derek pretended he didn’t notice. quickly, spencer filled up the tank while derek bought a coffee from the twenty-four hour mcdonald’s that stood eerily close. when derek returned with a steaming cup of black coffee for him, and a mocha frappa-something for spencer, he noticed his friend in the passenger seat and smiled.

 

as they pulled back onto the freeway, spencer turned to look at derek. “have i told you about the time my mom, my dad and i went to san francisco?” derek told him no, he had not, and so spencer grinned in return.

 

another hour passed by, this time with sweet and gentle conversation. derek’s deep voice and the quiet rumble of the engine below them served as a lullaby, drawing spencer underneath a warm blanket of sleep. he closed his eyes.

  
  



	2. it reminded me of you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a bookstore. garcia ships it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 2 babey! i'm looking forward to the chaos but for the first 8ish chapters it is aaallll fluff! hope you all enjoy this update - short but sweet! i plan to upload ch3 around tuesday, maybe monday? coolsies! enjoy :)))

**"it reminded me of you." s**

 

they’re at a bookstore. derek isn’t looking at any books at all, to be frank; he was propositioned into driving penelope and spencer around until the night grew wilder. while derek is ordering a coffee from the starbucks, spencer has grabbed penelope’s wrist and dragged her into the clustered hallways. derek’s eyes follow her blonde hair and his looming figure until the high stacks of books hide them completely.

 

derek doesn’t see this, he’s too busy looking for a vinyl for the new record player he bought, but spencer and penelope were in the crowded, bustling history section. spencer’s fingers traced the linings of every book on the shelf.

 

“is this alphabetical by author or by title?” penelope asked spencer. of course, he knew the answer.

 

“most bookstores organize by genre, author and title. in fact, it’s significantly uncommon for a bookstore to organize based on title, because it would be so difficult to find books by the same author. this follows the same trend, expect they didn’t alphabetize their genres, which is considerably unique. history and science fiction are right next to each other.”

 

“so…” penelope trailed off, “author.” spencer nodded.

 

while her hands danced to the V section, spencer looked aimlessly in every book, skimming the summary to decide how interesting it would be. he avoided the english books, of course, but it was difficult to find any high level foreign language books in this store, for whatever reason. he almost gave up hope of a new read for the day, until he heard a thump coming from where penelope stood. she looked over at him, guilty, and he laughed. he walked over to see what she’d found.

 

derek was still in the electronics section, though he had migrated over to the movie area. he walked along the shelves, searching for a movie he could convince both penelope and spencer to watch. penelope was much less picky about the movies she’d watch, but she hated any historical movie where people died - even if there were a happy ending - because it’s “too real” to her. spencer, ever the complicator, favored those exact types of movies (when science fiction and documentaries were not an option.

 

it’s only a beat later when spencer pops up behind derek, startling him with a bony hand on his back. spencer and penelope laugh, and derek blushes but pokes fun anyway. when he turns around to look at them, spencer has every vonnegut book in different languages. the top book on his stack is a russian translation of mother night. when derek quirks up a brow, spencer shrugs nonchalantly, but he blushes too.

 

 _“it reminded me of you,”_ he said, and derek felt a rush of blood in his chest. penelope only smirked.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> maybe you enjoyed? that would be cool! see you tuesday ish :P coolsies!!!
> 
> tumblr: peterporkerrr.tumblr.com  
> instagram: @elizabeth.kathleen  
> twitter: @littlebit9043


	3. no, no, it's my treat.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> cases, cases, and cases; spencer is invested and derek gives him break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i uploaded so late omg. i was sick all week and just procrastinated too much!!! but i hope you enjoy <3 please leave some love via kudos and comments! thank u for reading i hope it doesn't suck. ((ps, the elizabeth character is. Named After Me. she's not like me or anything but it's a self insert bc they're kind of friendly throughout the story and she will pop up again!))

**"no, no, it's my treat." d**

 

 _cases, cases, and cases;_ spencer has seen so many cases in this month, he almost begins to blur the victims together. the first case was a young college student; she was the third woman who was raped and slaughtered in the arizona desert over the past two months. there were four other cases spencer worked in just this august.

 

but this one felt different.

 

he certainly couldn’t explain how. maybe it was because the missing girl was only sixteen, kidnapped from a raving house party; a testament to what growing up does to you. maybe he felt this way because when garcia looked into the young girl’s computer, the team discovered a bubbling dilaudid addiction. maybe because her mother was sickly, and her father was absent, and when spencer looked at her, he only saw himself.

 

he gets into the habit of caring too much, that is undeniable, but in this case, a young girl, only sixteen, with a sick family and a sick body, was taken from a home that wasn’t even hers. spencer is lost on a lead, missing whole chunks of the profile...and the only reason the team was even called in? this girl - her name was elizabeth, it was elizabeth, spencer repeats - was such a low risk victim. nobody except her dealer, not even her closest friends, knew about her addiction; she had stellar grades, an honor student, accepted into a handful of ivy league college which she had not yet decided on for the spring; she worked in the community, volunteering at a multitude of shelters for underprivileged youth, animals, veterans, and more; she was nice; her teachers loved her; her mother needed her; she was a good kid.

 

the saddest part is, it wasn’t her mother who reported her missing. a whole twenty-four hours after she was last seen, her friends didn’t see her at school, so they were worried; apparently, another skill of hers was perfect attendance since the sixth grade.

 

this child, young and undiscovered, was kidnapped by what appeared to be a sexual sadist, a hebephile; but also could’ve been a protector abductor; but might have been neither; but could have been both; but -

 

 _cases, cases, and cases;_ spencer has never once failed to solve a case.

 

but this one felt different.

 

hotch is sitting to review case files, and emily is resting her head in the crook of her arm, and j.j. is quietly on the phone with a parent or a doctor or a something, and rossi is staring at the whiteboards and spencer is watching it all with cloudy eyes. it’s then that derek walks up behind spencer, places a wide and heavy hand on his shoulder, startling him. spencer whips his head around to look.

 

“come on, kid, you need a break,” derek said. “i can see how glazed over your eyes are, it doesn’t even look like you’re awake.”

 

“i am awake,” spencer argued, “just, um,” he paused, like he forgot where he was going. “just zoned out.”

 

j.j. chuckled from her seat, and emily lifted her head to roll her eyes at spencer. “spence,” j.j. said, “i think morgan’s right.”

 

spencer sighed and stood, and derek reached out a hand to steady him. “i’ve got an idea, just follow me, doctor,” derek said. emily snorted, and spencer made a face at her before trailing close behind derek.

 

when they made it to the car, spencer asked, “where are we going, morgan?” derek only grinned in response.

 

they drove for what felt like hours - but was probably more like twenty minutes - before arriving at something called a starvoyager. spencer laughed as soon as he saw the neon lights flashing above the doorway. “i can’t believe you found a restaurant like this. how?” he turned to derek and smiled bright; derek’s eyes were even brighter.

 

after a very late (ie, past eleven at night) dinner and even a drink or two, spencer pulled out his wallet to pay for all the junk he ate. derek rolled his eyes and pushed away spencer’s hand, telling him, “ _no, no, it’s my treat_.”

 

they returned to the station after picking up a single black coffee from the mcdonald’s drive through. spencer’s eyes felt fresher, more open; when he pulled out the victim’s - elizabeth, her name is elizabeth - file, he wasn’t afraid anymore. papers fluttered around him, but the mess made in his mind’s storm was worth it, as he lead the team a step, and another step, and another closer to the whereabouts of a sixteen year old girl with her whole life ahead of her.

 

 _cases, cases, and cases;_ this one had a bittersweet ending, didn't it?

 

they found her in a dusty basement, crawling with spiders - spencer later discovered she was, is an arachnophobe. she wasn’t tied up, but the doors were bolted shut, and she was pushed into withdrawal to the point of obedience. the janitor took her. he said he wanted to save her from her parents, from her addiction, from the cruel world that lie ahead; spencer won’t lie and say he was unhappy the janitor was in jail.

and if spencer sometimes called elizabeth, sometimes asked her about school and dilaudid and if she was okay...well, what’s the harm in that?  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey that was gay! comment please it'll make my heart happy
> 
> tumblr: peterporkerrr.tumblr.com  
> instagram: @elizabeth.kathleen  
> twitter: @littlebit9043

**Author's Note:**

> i sure hope ya liked it! i will be updating again pretty freakin soon!!!
> 
> my tumblr: peterporkerrr.tumblr.com  
> my instagram: @elizabeth.kathleen  
> my twitter: @littlebit9043


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